In the new issue of Regulation, economist Pierre Lemieux argues that the recent oil price decline is at least partly the result of increased supply from the extraction of shale oil. The increased supply allows the economy to produce more goods, which benefits some people, if not all of them. Thus, contrary to some commentary in the press, cheaper oil prices cannot harm the economy as a whole.

Two long wars, chronic deficits, the financial crisis, the costly drug war, the growth of executive power under Presidents Bush and Obama, and the revelations about NSA abuses, have given rise to a growing libertarian movement in our country – with a greater focus on individual liberty and less government power. David Boaz’s newly released The Libertarian Mind is a comprehensive guide to the history, philosophy, and growth of the libertarian movement, with incisive analyses of today’s most pressing issues and policies.

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ISTEA: A Poisonous Brew for American Cities

Will travel be faster and easier in the 21st century, or will traffic be bogged down by a cumbersome central planning process that creates more urban congestion and gridlock? The answer depends on how Congress acts on the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). Passed in 1991 and recently extended for six months, the act is to be reauthorized early next year.

A better title for the law, which allocates billions of dollars from the federal gasoline tax, might be the “Urban Immobility and Pork-Barrel Act.” ISTEA creates enormous incentives for urban areas to waste money on pork-barrel projects that are unlikely to meet local needs and that will actually promote congestion.

ISTEA especially promotes mass transit such as light rail and subways. But those systems carry only a fraction of commuters and cost from 10 to a 100 times more per mile to build than do roads. Worse, many supporters of transit, the so-called New Urbanists, actually favor increased congestion on roads. They see it as a way to get people out of cars and to force them to live in central cities rather than suburbs. But increased congestion will not result in significant shifts by commuters to transit; it will only result in millions of wasted hours and increased levels of air pollution as commuters sit in gridlocked traffic.

Transportation policy is best left with state and local authorities as well as with the private sector. Congress thus could make travel more efficient by getting out of the transportation business and repealing the federal gasoline tax that pays for federal pork.